Cui storms to maiden British F4 win in reversed-grid race at Snetterton

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Yuanpu Cui claims his maiden British Formula 4 victory with a dominant performance in the reversed-grid race at Snetterton.

The Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior snatched the race lead from Leo Robinson off the line and was unstoppable from that point onwards. At one point he had a lead of over five seconds to Mika Abrahams, only for a safety car period caused by Zack Scoular crashing out to draw him back in.

Cui got the perfect restart to again extend his lead while Abrahams and Bart Harrison batlted for second, and met the chequered flag with 2.122s in hand.

The fight to be runner-up had a dramatic end as both Abrahams and Harrison ran into trouble in the race’s closing stages.

After a strong drive up through the order, Alex Ninovic had been in the battle with them, along with Robinson and James Higgins too. A wide moment sent him to the back of the group and the top three began to spread out a little. After the safety car period there was only two minutes left of racing, and Harrison and Jack Sherwood immediately attacked Abrahams.

Sherwood got the best restart of the trio, and a sideway moment for Harrison hindered his progress. Abrahams managed to hold second until a spin dropped him down the order, with Harrison also falling backwards. That meant Sherwood ended up as the race runner-up, just ahead of Deagan Fairclough who took the fastest lap of the race.

Ninovic climbed back up to fourth by the finish, aided by a spin for Ella Lloyd behind the safety car. Abbi Pulling was fifth, just ahead of Joel Bergstrom and Robinson, and Lloyd came home ninth.

Race results (9 laps)